Sidharth Rao, the founder of Webchutney and co-founder of Punt Partners, has passed away leaving behind his parents and wife.
Sidharth Rao had been with Webchutney for 23 years before co-founding Punt Partners with entrepreneur Madhu Sudhan. In 1999, he founded Webchutney along with Sudesh Samaria.
lost a very dear friend. go well @sidharthrao 😢
have no words how much he meant to me 🙁— Anand Jain (@helloanand) April 21, 2023
Webchutney was acquired by Dentsu in 2013 after buying out Network 18’s stake, making it Dentsu’s first local acquisition in India, and Rao became the CEO of the company.
He then became the Chairman of Dentsu Webchutney and Happy mcgarrybowen (HMB) India in January 2020, previously serving as CEO of Dentsu Webchutney.
Rammohan Sundaram, President – Integrated Media, DDB Mudra Group express his grief in his LinkedIn post.
Waking up this morning to the saddest news in recent times.
Sidharth Rao breathed his last, last evening and I don’t know what to even say, I am gutted!
He is the one who stood by me back in the day in 2008 when I launched NetworkPlay. This was his make or break bet given Webchutney was going through a super rough patch.
In June 2021, he was given the additional responsibility of Group CEO of the dentsuMB Group as part of Dentsu’s restructuring of its creative, digital, and PR services. He left dentsuMB in May 2022 to launch Punt Partners.
However, the reason for his death is still unknown.
His contributions to the advertising industry in India will be remembered, and his passing is a great loss to the industry.
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